AKSHATA Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, made a surprise address at Conservative Party Conference ahead of Rishi Sunak’s speech.
Following Common's leader Penny Mordaunt and veterans minister Johnny Mercer, Murty told the crowd in Manchester: “Yes, you are absolutely right, I am not on the agenda for today. A bit of a surprise addition shall we say and a surprise for my husband too, who has no idea what I am going to say.”
It comes as Sunak allowed speculation over the future of the HS2 project to dominate the three days of discussion amongst members and media.
Murty later added: “The reason why I am here is really quite simple, and it is because Rishi and I are each other’s best friends.
“We are one team and I could not imagine being anywhere else but here today with all of you to show my support to him and to the party.”
She shared how the pair met, what drives him, and his "energy and passion" for the country.
The Prime Minister addressed delegates in Manchester who expected him to defy a backlash from Tory colleagues and northern leaders by abandoning the high-speed rail route to Manchester.
It was the first time in several years that the leader of the Tory party did not arrive on stage to a handpicked song.
In 2022, Liz Truss walked on stage to the 90’s hit Moving On Up while indie band Friendly Fires criticised Boris Johnson after he walked out to one of their tracks ahead of his keynote speech in 2021.
Theresa May famously danced on to the stage in Birmingham to the tune of Abba's Dancing Queen.
Sunak has struggled to keep the conference on track amid Tory criticism over HS2 and his predecessor Truss drawing big conference crowds as she demanded immediate tax cuts to “make Britain grow again” a year after she left office after a chaotic 49 days.
The Prime Minister instead compared himself to Margaret Thatcher, who prioritised tackling inflation during her premiership between 1979 and 1990.
Murty has said she sometimes reminds her husband that he is “fighting for his values” and for “this party’s values”.
She told the Tory party conference: “Sometimes when the going gets tough, I remind Rishi that he’s fighting for his values, that he’s fighting for this party’s values, knowing that it’s a hard road ahead. That success is hard won.
“Rishi you know this, you know that doing the right thing for the long-term, even when it’s hard, is the right thing to do. And I hope you also know how proud you make our girls and me every single day.”
As he opened his speech on the main stage, the Prime Minister told his wife: “Thank you Akshata for that introduction, and thank you for always being there for me. My wife. Truly the best long-term decision for a brighter future I ever made.”
The Tory conference also saw Suella Braverman use her conference speech to warn of a “hurricane” of migrants, comments which caused unease among some senior Conservatives.
Braverman said: “The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming.
“Because today, the option of moving from a poorer country to a richer one is not just a dream for billions of people. It’s an entirely realistic prospect.”
But Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “We have to be very careful about how we explain and express immigration policies, so that people aren’t getting echoes of things that were less palatable.”
